MAYOR SAYS COP UNION TAKE ON INJECTION SITE UNSCIENTIFIC

To the editor:

Having read Vancouver police union president Tom Stamatakis's analysis of
overdose deaths in Vancouver, I'm left completely perplexed by his
conclusion ("Cop union president questions injection site impact," Nov. 24).

Stamatakis compares same period overdose rates in 2003 with 2004, when the
supervised injection site (SIS) was operating. He concludes that the
supervised injection site hasn't had an impact on drug overdose deaths or
the use of injection drugs. Comparing these rates and attributing the
difference to the operation of the supervised injection site is a crude
analysis that would never stand up to scientific scrutiny. Overdoses are
attributable to a huge range of factors including the quality of drugs and
the types of drugs used. No one ever promised to eliminate overdoses by
opening an injection site. If only that were possible!

I wonder if Stamatakis could assure us none of the 100 plus overdoses that
occurred in almost six months at Insite would have resulted in a death.
It's also interesting that no mention is made in the article of the
significant effort by the Vancouver Police Department to support the SIS.
The VPD has gone out of its way to ensure that the SIS works to improve
conditions at the street level for injection drug users, the police and the
surrounding community.

Before labeling the supervised injection site a failure, I think we should
let the independent and rigorous evaluation being conducted by the Centre
for Excellence on HIV/AIDS provide results (perhaps Stamatakis should read
it). I look forward to seeing the scientifically proven health outcomes,
not just hearsay and speculation.

Larry W. Campbell, Mayor